Welcome! Fàilte!

Welcome to the Scottish Special Interest Group (SIG) of the Ontario Genealogical Society. Membership in the Scottish SIG is restricted to members of the Ontario Genealogical Society.

Our members are descended from Scottish ancestors, are researchers of Scottish family history and genealogy, and are simply those interested in learning more about Scottish history and culture. Since the 12th century, Scots have left their homeland and settled all over the world. The descendants of the Scots diaspora are proud to claim their Scottish heritage and interested in tracing their Scottish roots. Fortunately, this is easier to do than for some other countries. In our website you will find resources to help with your Scottish genealogy, newsletters, announcements and events of interest.

In order to access our Members Only pages you must be a member of the Scottish SIG of the OGS. To join the Scottish SIG, you must also be an OGS member, which also gives you access to other member advantages, such as a 50% discount on history Scotland magazine and at-home access to the MyHeritage Library Edition as well as many other discounted products. Join the Ontario Genealogical Society by registering and purchasing a membership HERE. Join the Ontario Genealogical Society and the Scottish SIG and let us help you with your research and help you connect with fellow Scottish researchers.

We welcome any and all questions or comments, please feel free to submit them in the Contact Form .

You can also contact us by joining the Scottish SIG Facebook group and posting messages to us, or simply follow the conversation there.

Scottish SIG Facebook Group

Each week we will highlight a new speaker that will be presenting at #OGSConf2018, which is being held in Guelph, Ontario 6/1 – 6/3.

This week’s speaker spotlight is Elise Cole.

Elise is a graduate of McGill and Queen’s University with a Masters of Library and Information Studies and an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Studies and English. She joined Oakville Public Library as the Local History Librarian in 1999, and was involved with numerous projects including the creation of the Oakville Images database, introducing programming about Local History and Genealogy, and the establishment of the Genealogy Collection at the Central Branch. In 2003, she introduced, organized and ran the first ever Helping Genealogists Climb Family Trees Librarian’s Preconference to OGS in Toronto with a repeat in Windsor in 2004.

In July 2008 she took on the role of Teen Services Librarian and has worked with numerous teens and partners in the community to bring teen programs, collections, and services to the attention of this demographic in our area. She was part of the group that worked to have Oakville recognized as Youth Friendly in 2009. She returned to the role of Local Collections Librarian in March 2014.

Elise has previously served as a member of the Canadian Library Association (CLA) Copyright Committee, Ontario Public Library Association Councillor, and has presented on a multitude of topics at CLA, Ontario Library Association and the American Library Association conferences. Elise has been a part of the Ontario Public Library Guidelines Monitoring and Accreditation Council as the OLA representative since 2003 and has served consecutive terms as Vice-Chair and Chair. She was re-elected to the position of Chair in the fall of 2014 and continues to serve in that capacity. She and her council have been asked to present to the annual OLA Superconference in 2018 on the topic of libraries and accreditation.